Captain says vessel deliberately sunk

The Thunder was issued with an Interpol notice for suspected illegal fishing activity in 2013.

Sea Shepherd have been following the ship as part of its Operation Icefish.

"We've been following the internationally wanted poaching vessel Thunder for the past 110 days. They were at the limit of their fuel yesterday," Mr Hammarstedt said on Monday as the Thunder was sinking.

"Our suspicion is that the captain of the Thunder, knowing he's run out of fuel, has deliberately sunk his own boat in order to destroy any physical evidence.

"I've sent a couple of my crew onboard the Thunder — my chief engineer examined the engine room, which is completely underwater.

"We also notice they've opened several hatches — those that the water, once it's filled one area of the ship, will quickly go into another and it's clear, in my opinion, that this ship was sunk."

He said he hoped Sea Shepherd would still see an end to the case.

"It seems like the captain of the Thunder felt the pressure was too much, that he would certainly see the inside of a jail cell and he'd rather see the evidence sink with his ship, and that's the situation we're in."

Mr Hammarstedt said his crew had nonetheless managed to collect significant evidence of the Tunder's illegal activity.

"We have a lot of physical evidence on board our vessel that we need to hand over to Interpol," he said.

"They're suspected of a number of fisheries crimes, including human trafficking."

Local coastguard authorities met the Sam Simon and took charge of the Thunder crew.